[S2] Peter W. Hammond, editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 82. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage, Volume XIV.

JohnHamiltonof Biel, 2nd Lord Belhaven and Stenton was born on 5 July 1656.1,2 He was the son of SirRobertHamilton, Lord Pressmennan and MarionDenholm.1 He married MargaretHamilton, daughter of SirRobertHamiltonof Silvertonhill, 1st Bt. and AnneHamilton, in 1674.1 He died on 21 June 1708 at age 51, from inflammation of the brain.1 He succeeded as the 2nd Lord Belhaven and Stenton, co. Haddington [S., 1647] on 17 June 1679.1 He promoted the accession of King William III.1 He was appointed Privy Counsellor (P.C.) [Scotland].1 He was Commissioner in 1704, but was soon removed for being a zealous opponent of the Union.1 In 1708 he was suspected of favouring the attempted invasion of Scotland by the Chevalier, and was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle.1 Macky describes him "as a rough, fat, black, noisy man, more like a Butcher than a Lord."1

Children of John Hamilton of Biel, 2nd Lord Belhaven and Stenton and MargaretHamilton